Halcali(ハルカリ,Harukari?, stylized as HALCALI), is a Japanese pop and new-school inspired hip-hopduo consisting of members Halca (born April 21, 1988) and Yucali (born July 18, 1987) from Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. Its name is a portmanteau of Halca( ハルカ,Haruka?) and Yucali( ユカリ,Yukari?). Their debut album, Halcali Bacon, reached #5 on the Oricon charts, making it the first album by a female hip-hop artist to enter the top ten in Japanese history.[1]

Halcali also made their American debut in May 2008 as the musical guests of honor at the Chicago Japanese culture, manga and anime convention, Anime Central.[2][3] They performed again in America at Central Park, New York City on June 1, 2008 as part of a Japan Day Festival as part of a Japanese tourism campaign.[4][5]

On May 30, 2012, Halcali released their fifth original album, Halcali no Okawari. The duo commemorated the album's release by holding a sold-out, one-man live at Shibuya Club Quattro on September 15, 2012. Halcali performed a total of 25 songs, spanning their musical career, and were joined by surprise guests Yosuke@HOME and Scha Dara Parr.[6]

Haruka and Yukari were close friends since elementary school and also attended the same local Meguro dance school. Both girls were only interested in becoming dancers in the future and had no aspiration to become singers. In 2002, Haruka and Yukari noticed a pink flier for an audition to become a "female hip hop unit" which was held by the group Rip Slyme.[7][8] Yukari admitted that the both of them entered the competition simply to see what it was.[9] Among hundreds of entrants, Haruka and Yukari were chosen to form Halcali.[10][11] The girls modestly spoke of their formation, saying that although there were many girls cuter than themselves, Rip Slyme and Oshare Toy Factory riskily chose them. Yukari stated, "Sometimes it's like you want to have a piece of really gross gum- Just to see!"[9]

Halcali debuted at a free concert held by Rip Slyme at the Budokan theatre. There, Halcali performed with Rip Slyme and were introduced along with their debut single, "タンデム" (Tandem?). "Tandem" was released on January 8, 2003 and was marketed on several Japanese television networks, along with MTV. The single entered into the Oricon Charts at position 19.[12][13]

The time between the release of their first single to that of their debut album Halcali moved away from mainstream J-pop and toward a style combining pop and rap; an airy, self-parody "bubblegum" rap in the vein of earlier groups such as East End X Yuri. This was evident in their second and third singles, "エレクトリック先生" (Electric Sensei?) and "ギリギリ・サーフライダー" (Girigiri Surf Rider?) released in mid-2003. Both singles focused on rap rather than pop.

In winter 2003, Halcali released their fourth single, the Christmas-themed "Strawberry Chips" (ストロベリーチップス?). This single continued to show the fluctuation between rap and J-pop.

After the release of "Strawberry Chips", Halcali's visual style shifted, along with the layout and lyrical style of their songs. Their fifth single, "Marching March" (マーチングマーチ?), was the first to showcase this new style. This change in style is attributed to Halcali's coming-of-age, however it also represents the changing of fads that occurred in Japanese teens at the time and was necessary to retain their fanbase.

Their sixth single, "Baby Blue!", was an instant cult hit. The album art and video featured the character Hanpanda, a trend by Japanese artist Nagi Noda, which has since become popular.

Haruka (ハルカ,Haruka?), portrays herself to be the more mature of the pair in her PR and personal blog entries. She shows focus for performances, commentating seriously on those commenting on her in TV appearances. She has recently become more focused on fashion, and has appeared in Barfout, a fashion magazine, along with Yucali.

In the past, Yukari (ユカリ,Yukari?) would portray a childlike image, which gave the group's image a more school-aged look. She wore a tilted baseball cap or some other sort of head apparel as was the fad at the time. Her current image is now more adult-like.

Halcali's sound has been progressively and markedly different from their period of inception- initially being focused upon peppy, high-energy beats with equally fast and furious lyrics, moving onto more creative songs which seem to weave between genres and sounds, a la 音樂ノススメ (Ongaku no Susume), and more particularly サイボーグ俺達 (Cyborg Oretachi), which included musical genres ranging from rap, pop, electrocore and rock.

As Haruka & Yukari have matured, they have taken on the role of writing their own rhymes and lyrics and composing their own music. Their third album, サイボーグ俺達 (Cyborg Oretachi), featured many tracks which were written or co-written by Halcali. Every single after this album has also been written by or co-written by Halcali as well.

The girls are currently playing various live performances to promote their music. They are working on their upcoming fourth album.

^Epic Records, et al. (2007), As a rough translation (In original past-tense) -- "The signing [of Halcali] by O.T.F begins with Haruka (19) with Yukari (19), who commute to the same dance school alongside 2 groups [of girls] from Girl's High School (Puhotsu Puyunitsuto (?) ) to "Female Rapper auditions" where they were chosen from the competition ... [moved to beginning as per grammar]"

^Epic Records, et al. (2007)., Rough translation (past-tense) "On July 26, 2002 the rap band RIP SLYME announced [live,] on-stage in front of 10,000 viewers that [...] new band Halcali would be releasing their debut single "Tandemu" (Tandem)"

^Epic Records, et al. (2007),Rough translation (past-tense) -- "1st single, "Tandem" is announced [for release] on January 8, 2003, with the music video being played on [television networks] WOW WOW, Space Shower TV, MTV and M-ON to coincide with the release of the single. In ranking, it reached position 19 on the Oricon Charts."